I didn't expect him to remember.
It's just a drink. One latte. No syrup. Half sugar. It's not exactly the kind of thing someone like Souta Ren would keep in his head. He gets hundreds of orders a day. Talks to dozens of girls. Always smiling, always gracious. The kind of guy who leaves no fingerprints but somehow leaves a mark on everyone.
But today, he looked me in the eyes and slid the drink across the counter before I could even open my mouth.
"Your usual, right?" he said.
And I blinked.
Right then, the world hiccupped.
I took the cup and nodded. "Yeah."
I don't even remember paying.
I sat down in the same spot as last time, the third table from the window, near the potted plant with the half-dead leaves. My notebook was in my hand, but my pen stayed idle.
I stared at the steam rising from the cup and tried not to overthink.
But my brain is cruel like that.
Why did he remember?
How did he know I'd come back?
Did he care?
Does it mean anything?
It probably doesn't. He's polite. Friendly. Attentive. Maybe he remembers everyone's order. Maybe I'm just another customer to him.
But that didn't explain the way he said it. Like it mattered.
Like I mattered.
Outside, the sky was a dull gray. The kind that makes everything feel slower, softer. I wrapped both hands around the cup and leaned over it, letting the warmth rise into my face.
He didn't look at me again after he handed me the drink. He went back to wiping the counter, talking briefly to another customer, adjusting the syrup bottles. But he did glance my way once when he thought I wasn't looking.
Our eyes didn't meet.
But I saw enough.
He looked... relaxed. A little tired. A little real.
The version of Souta that isn't filtered through classroom lights and Kaori's obsession.
I liked this version better.
I stayed there for an hour. Maybe more. Just reading over my notes, pretending to study, sipping slowly.
And every few minutes, I'd catch myself stealing a glance at him.
Which scared me.
Because I don't do that. I don't feel that. Not anymore.
My heart's been shut away for years now, wrapped in barbed wire and caution tape.
But today, something shifted.
Not in a big, dramatic way.
Just a crack.
A soft creak in the rusted hinges of my heart.
I didn't want it to happen.
But I think I'm starting to like being seen.
Especially by him.